73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Body, Glass & Paint => Topic started by: ehjorten on October 08, 2019, 09:02:27 AM
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So on my '91 Crew I have an aftermarket hood. It was on it when I bought it. It never really fit that great and the secondary latch never caught the radiator support like it should. I just don't like it and the the clear coat was peeling. So...I found what I thought was a straight, used OE hood that had zero rust.
I had it plastic media blasted the other day. I had it done because I just wasn't sure what lied underneath the paint. It wasn't in stock paint. The guys at this media blasters do whole vehicles all of the time and they said they didn't want to hit it too hard because it would warp it. Sound good. Sounds like they have some knowledge. I have had them do other stuff before and they have always done good work. When I went to go pick it up they said it had quite a bit of bondo in it and that they stopped short of finishing the job because they wanted to know what I wanted them to do. They didn't want to get to aggressive with it and warp it. We stopped there, it was mostly down to bare metal. I figured the rest of the bondo could stay in there and just block it down.
However, now you can feel waviness in the main flat panels. I don't know if that was there to begin with and just hidden, or if the blasters warped the panel. My body guy says you would be better off finding a different hood. He says he can put bondo on it, but there is no guarantee that he'll be able to make it totally smooth, and he says it is a hood, so the flexing, opening, closing, slamming, etc. of the hood could make the bondo lift off. So now I am like, SH$T!
Last night my brother who is working on a Duramax conversion of a '71 Chev pickup said that he had a spot on his cab roof that was almost a 1/4" deep, like a softball. He said he took a chunk of sheetmetal, punched it to make a dent, filled it in with a sloppy layer of Evercoat Ultra and then hit it with a hammer, hit it with an air chisel, and even bent it in half. He said that stuff never lifted from the steel!
So...my question...can I bondo this hood to get rid of the waviness and expect the bondo to stay, or should I abandon all hope and keep looking for another, better hood? I know there are other hoods out there, it is just the time it takes to take time off of work and travel around to various wrecking yards, up to several hours away to search for the best hood. I feel like I got screwed by the wrecking yard that sold me this hood. I know...Caveat emptor!
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It doesn't sound like your bondo would be that deep ;)
I agree with your brother, when applied correctly, I haven't seen it warp.